26 July, 2010

I came back from vacation to find that the new Gran Compe 610 brakes had arrived. The new 610s are super stiff CNC machined centerpulls with 47 to 61mm reach.

I'm really excited about these. Top of the line centerpulls generally have better stopping power than sidepulls, but what is more important is that they tend to have better modulation. That is, the brake pressure is more linear and controllable. Paul Racers have long been the only other high quality centerpulls available and we used to sell them. But at $133 per wheel, or $143 for the high polish version, they are simply too expensive for most. Fortunately the Gran Compe 610 are only $75.

Note that the version we sell have been upgraded with VO alloy cartridge brake shoes and VO pads. This makes adjusting toe-in easy and any Shimano-type pads fit. It was really nice of the folks at Dia Compe to accommodate us in this since they also make their own brake pads.

Another neat thing about these brakes is they fit frames made for either recessed or nutted brake bolts. Two bolt spacers are included to allow them to fit most older frames, as well as modern frames. We are trying to convince Dia Compe to also offer braze-on mounts for custom frames.

The front mini-racks for the 610s are on the way. These are neat little racks just big enough to support a handlebar bag. They just arrived in the US and should clear customs in a week or so.

Phil, Dia Compe's president told me that those are long out of production and they need to find the old tooling or make new tooling. I'm pretty confident that they will be available again because he likes brazed on centerpulls as much as we do.

Thanks for putting these out; this type of brake makes a lot of sense for many and it indeed has been annoying that Paul has been the only choice.

I think it would be great if you sold braze-on bosses for these; pushing for them being cheap, easily obtainable, and somewhat standardized would be a good step for this type of brake. It would be nice if there were some way to just ditch the designs that use spring holes and adopt common 990 bosses as a standard, but maybe that's not feasible without giving up some of the minimalism or tight tolerances of the pivots, or relying on extra-precisely-machined 990 bosses that might as well be a different design anyway.

Just to note that Paul has actually come out with a 47-57mm reach "Racer M" version of their centerpulls, so these are more directly competing with those than with the original Paul Racer.

But, I'm actually more tempted by these now, and not just by the price-- I like the fact that they are using road style shoes whereas the Pauls use v-brake style ones. Add to that the possibility for mounting a rack cleanly on forks without braze-ons, and these are looking mighty attractive.

do you know off hand whether the dia compe braze on version, if they make it again, will mount to canti studs or, like the pauls, to differently located studs? perhaps you *can't* make them to mount on canti studs, I don't know.

and a general question about centerpulls for chris or anyone -- do they tend to have the same brake chatter problems that cantis do, or are they better on that front?

I understand that you really haven't had a chance to look over the GC racks; but I sure like the idea. Much like the old MAFAC racks,of course; but will these sit level or will they be tilted as their predecessors were?

Hello. Is the reach actually 61mm? I have seen a couple of sites (including yours) with the max reach at 57mm. It would be great to have this clarified by someone, only really concerned with the front brake. Thanks a heap, Graeme

These would be a great alternative to the Paul Racer if they had longer reach, AKA enough clearance for 42mm Hetres with the 52mm Zeppelin fenders. Please develop a long reach center pull like the RAID!

Sean, the reach is determined by the frame, not the tire and fender combo. A frame is built for a particular brake reach. We have seen these used on several bikes with Hertes (which are really only 39.5mm wide) and Zeppelin fenders. They fit perfectly.